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Edge of Eternities is living up to the billing as the set that takes us to furthest reaches of the multiverse. The set has dropped a bunch of interesting cards, and I find myself building more decks than I have for any set this year. This feels like one of those sets that will slowly influence the format the entire time its legal, as new cards and interactions will become relevant as more cards enter the format. There're a ton of great interactions in this set!
One of the more interesting interactions that I (and a great many others) noticed immediately was the interaction between the Planet lands and Kona, Rescue Beastie. Playing a Planet on turns 1-3 allows you to drop Kona and immediately tap it on turn four. Whereas prior to Edge of Eternities, you had to work a lot harder to tap Kona, relying on Scene of the Crime, or Lumbering Worldwagon. But now, integrating the lands is such a low cost that I had to try it out. My early results were so exciting I decided to brew up a second deck for you too (and I have a 3rd version lurking in the back of my mind that you may see some day).
First up, is a Kona build that also smashes a bit of the Yuna, Hope of Spira reanimation strategy.
KoYuna | EOE Standard | Travis Hall
- Creatures (17)
- 1 Wylie Duke, Atiin Hero
- 2 Beza, the Bounding Spring
- 2 Overlord of the Mistmoors
- 2 Summon: Bahamut
- 2 Summon: Knights of Round
- 4 Kona, Rescue Beastie
- 4 Yuna, Hope of Spira
- Instants (6)
- 3 Get Lost
- 3 Cache Grab
- Enchantments (6)
- 2 Seam Rip
- 4 Dredger's Insight
- Artifacts (7)
- 3 The Seriema
- 4 Phoenix Down
- Lands (24)
- 5 Plains
- 4 Forest
- 1 Starting Town
- 2 Evendo, Waking Haven
- 4 Adagia, Windswept Bastion
- 4 Hushwood Verge
- 4 Lush Portico
Export Arena
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This deck looks to combine the power of Kona, Rescue Beastie and Yuna, Hope of Spira in a deck that attacks in two separate ways. Yuna presents a traditional reanimation strategy for Standard, and is already seeing play in a Naya deck, but reanimation strategies often struggle with drawing their big threats. The majority of reanimator decks use discard effects to combat this, but in our case, Kona fills in. The idea behind this deck is not entirely my own, as I saw d00mwake playing a similar version prior to rotation.
The Seriema does double duty here, finding Kona if you're in position to utilize it best, or Yuna if it's better to go the reanimation route. It replaces the Lumbering Worldwagon in previous versions, since it can find Kona to threaten the turn four combo.
Phoenix Down is subtly great, as it can enable a tapped Kona on turn three if Kona lands in the graveyard from Dredger's Insight or Cache Grab on turn two.
There are times that this deck feels like you're forcing the old Splinter Twin action on your opponent, where they absolutely must keep up an instant speed interactive spell on turn 3-4 or they risk a very bad thing happening to them.
I liked the Kona + reanimation strategy so much that I decided to explore the combination in a more traditional sense, by pairing Kona with Black reanimation spells.
Kona Coffee | EOE Standard | Travis Hall
- Creatures (22)
- 2 Seedship Broodtender
- 2 Summon: Bahamut
- 2 Valgavoth, Terror Eater
- 2 Vaultborn Tyrant
- 3 Cynical Loner
- 3 Defiant Survivor
- 4 Kona, Rescue Beastie
- 4 Overlord of the Balemurk
- Instants (4)
- 4 Bitter Triumph
- Sorceries (6)
- 2 Coiling Rebirth
- 4 Zombify
- Enchantments (4)
- 4 Dredger's Insight
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Primarily this deck looks to use Kona and the Planet lands, or Zombify spells, to enable an early Valgavoth, Terror Eater, Summon: Bahamut, or Vaultborn Tyrant. By shifting from White to Black as the color to support Kona, we lose the reliance on enchantment creatures and open the door to your usual package of big nasty finishers.
Survival is a mechanic tailor made for Station, and this deck looks to explore the mechanic beyond the Kona interaction. Combining Susur Secundi, Void Altar with Defiant Survivor is an easy way to create an army of 2/2 creatures and also fill your graveyard. Cynical Loner can also tutor for a specific target to drop in the graveyard for the best turn four reanimation strategy to fit the match you're playing at the moment.
In fact, it's entirely possible that this deck doesn't really need the reanimation strategy. Maybe you could use cynical Loaner with Esper Origins, or the some of the cards with Harmonize? Maybe you could focus on just out valuing your opponent with the Survival creatures? There's definitely room to explore this interaction.
As I said in the beginning, it feels like Standard is ripe for fresh decks, and Edge of Eternities has the depth to push new brews. With the next Pro Tour event happening after the arrival of Spider-Man, we have the time to take a breath and explore the format.
You can find more of my Magic musings on Twitter/X @travishall456 and on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/anakinsdad.bsky.social
