Edge of Eternities is here! Standard has finally hit rotation, saying goodbye to four sets and welcoming in a brand new, powerful addition to the format. Edge of Eternities is shaping up to be one of the most powerful Standard sets we've seen in awhile. It has the return of shocklands, arguably the best land cycle for Standard of all time, as well as a number of cards across multiple card types that are starting to see play. While we've seen a bunch of new decks pop up over the last couple of days, a lot of pre-existing strategies got some new toys to play with.

While I await my local Standard RCQ season to start, I'm already pouring through decklists from Magic Online and across social media. Here are some of my favorites that I've seen this week!

Esper Pixie | Edge of Eternities Standard | DB_Claudioh, Standard Challenge 7/29/2025/3rd

• Creatures (18)
• 2 Fear of Isolation
• 4 Cosmogrand Zenith
• 4 Nurturing Pixie
• 4 Spyglass Siren
• 4 Sunpearl Kirin

• Instants (1)
• 1 Shoot the Sheriff

• Sorceries (6)
• 2 Stock Up
• 4 Tragic Trajectory

• Enchantments (10)
• 2 Momentum Breaker
• 4 Nowhere to Run
• 4 Stormchaser's Talent

• Artifacts (1)
• 1 Cryogen Relic

• Lands (24)
• 3 Concealed Courtyard
• 4 Floodfarm Verge
• 4 Gloomlake Verge
• 4 Godless Shrine
• 1 Meticulous Archive
• 1 Shadowy Backstreet
• 3 Starting Town
• 4 Watery Grave

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Annul
• 1 Defiled Crypt // Cadaver Lab
• 1 Duress
• 1 Elegy Acolyte
• 2 Exorcise
• 1 Ghost Vacuum
• 2 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares
• 2 No More Lies
• 1 Pinnacle Starcage
• 1 Sage of the Skies
• 2 Seam Rip

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First up is a deck that gained quite a few new cards from Edge of Eternities, Esper Pixie. Esper Pixie is not a deck I originally thought would be good post-rotation. Before the shocklands were spoiled it seemed like with the bannings of Hopeless Nightmare and This Town Ain't Big Enough that the deck was seriously lacking. However, with the shocklands replacing painlands (a sizable upgrade since you can play the verge package now) in addition to a couple new cards, this deck is right back on the map, arguably better than where it was pre-rotation.

Besides the lands the real new addition to this deck is Cosmogrand Zenith, a Monastery Mentor-esque creature that fits in perfectly into a deck that bounces its permanents and plays multiple spells in one turn. With maindeck Tragic Trajectory basically always turned on this deck has great answers to creature-heavy strategies. I think this deck can be at the mercy of strategies that go over the top of it, especially without access anymore to chaining Hopeless Nightmares. That being said, I do think this seems like a good place to start in Standard, as it's already a tried and true strategy, now with better mana and some new cards.

Mono-Red Dragons | Edge of Eternities Standard | Bertram, Standard League 7/30/2025/5-0

• Creatures (32)
• 4 Fanatical Firebrand
• 4 Hired Claw
• 4 Magda, the Hoardmaster
• 4 Magmatic Hellkite
• 4 Nova Hellkite
• 4 Sarkhan, Dragon Ascendant
• 4 Screaming Nemesis
• 4 Twinmaw Stormbrood

• Instants (4)
• 4 Burst Lightning

• Lands (24)
• 20 Mountain
• 4 Volatile Fault

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Abrade
• 4 Count on Luck
• 4 Ghost Vacuum
• 3 Pyroclasm
• 2 Suplex

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This is probably the most streamlined Aggro deck I've seen in awhile, and every card seems to be carefully picked for this build. This deck has a dragon theme going for it, with the new Nova Hellkite, a card you can Warp in for four damage on turn three and cast later on for a hasty threat. With Sarkhan, Dragon Ascendant you can play him on turn two, cast a Nova Hellkite on turn three and attack for seven, and then on turn four you can attack for eight more damage after casting Nova Hellkite from exile off your treasure token.

I also like the Magda, the Hoardmaster/Magmatic Hellkite package, playing into the dragon theme while also providing ways to commit crimes with Magda. Fanatical Firebrand and Hired Claw round out the deck as your 1-drops, and I also appreciate that you have the failsafe of the classic Screaming Nemesis plus Burst Lightning lock out in this deck against lifegain. While I have no clue if this is the most optimal way to play Red, I do think it's a really ingenious way to build an aggro deck, with one new card from Edge of Eternities basically pulling the deck together.

Azorius Blink | Edge of Eternities Standard | DB_Dykman, Standard Challenge 7/29/2025/9th

• Creatures (23)
• 3 Beza, the Bounding Spring
• 4 Anticausal Vestige
• 4 Charming Prince
• 4 Fortune, Loyal Steed
• 4 Quantum Riddler
• 4 Twining Twins

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Elspeth, Storm Slayer

• Instants (4)
• 4 Get Lost

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Splash Portal

• Enchantments (2)
• 2 Seam Rip

• Lands (25)
• 4 Island
• 5 Plains
• 4 Fabled Passage
• 4 Floodfarm Verge
• 4 Meticulous Archive
• 4 Starting Town

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Annul
• 1 Beza, the Bounding Spring
• 2 Elspeth's Smite
• 1 Kutzil's Flanker
• 2 Negate
• 3 Rest in Peace
• 2 Seam Rip
• 2 Spell Pierce

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One last decklist that really caught my attention was this Azorius Blink deck from the first Standard challenge. This deck revolves around two new Warp cards, Quantum Riddler and Anticausal Vestige. Your goal is to blink them with a variety of ways, like Splash Portal, Twining Twins, etc, to gain a ton of value and overpower your opponent's board. As early as turn three you can Warp a Quantum Riddler, use Splash Portal on it, then end the turn with a 4/6 flyer that just drew you two cards! Man, talk about value.

What I like about this deck is that it just has great ways to offset Aggro decks baked into its core design. With Charming Prince and Beza, the Bounding Spring, you have ways to continuously gain life. You can also answer Screaming Nemesis with Get Lost, but it does get dicey if they can Burst Lightning it before you can remove it.

Since you're sometimes tight on mana, on turns you have a Warp spell plus some kind of bounce, it's integral to have cheap countermagic or protection spells. I like that this deck has both Annul and Spell Pierce in its sideboard. I could even be interested in copies of Restoration Magic somewhere as some extra protection against cards like Day of Judgment, Shoot the Sheriff, and opposing Get Losts.

Overall, Quantum Riddler is a card I've been very interested in just in general. I think it could see play in various Control builds, but obviously it seems a bit more powerful when you can blink it as early as turn three. Maybe there's a build of this deck that cuts down on blink creatures, like cutting Fortune, Loyal Steed, in favor of more countermagic. There's still a lot to be discovered, but this is one deck that if I had the cards I'd be playing at an event this weekend.

Standard is in a volatile, but exciting place right now. There's still so much to be discovered, and already we've seen a plethora of new decks hit the format. Even from looking at the Standard League 5-0 decks it's become abundantly clear that there are easily over a dozen or two decks that are viable in this format. What an exciting time to be playing Constructed.

Until next time,

-Roman Fusco