We went into Foundations knowing that the demon deck was a top archetype in Standard, and even in Pioneer, but the question still remained: with new cards coming, would it still be good? And if it's still good, what could we do to make it better? Foundations gives us some key cards that almost appear to be made for the deck, and we won't scoff at that. The set is made to be a basis for many different archetypes, so it was nice that we got some decent demons with our core set. Something we'll have to worry about going forward is all of the other decks that will be popping up. We will be vigilant about our sideboard choices and stay prepared to make the changes that are needed. We do have some cards in the sideboard from the new set, so let's take a look at the deck itself that will show us main deck and sideboard additions from Foundations.   We are following the previous demon archetype, but now we are able to be a little bit more well-rounded, and we have cut down on some of the cost by building the deck in paper. One could also argue that the deck has a better mana curve, as the previous version ran 10 four drops. Since we took out two copies of Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, that lowers the cost of the deck by about $150 USD. While some argue that we have taken out one of the best cards in the format, we are also helping the deck stay more true to its goal, while making it more accessible to newer players.

Foundations has almost fully been spoiled, and I believe that it is safe to say that we are in for some fun times in Standard. There will be a lot support that is coming for many different archetypes, and they have made some evergreen cards available in the set that should help the format be very and healthy. There are some that I like, and some that I hate, so we can conclude that they likely made well-balanced decisions with their card choices. Wizards has also come out and stated that they have good consumer support for this set so far, and I fully believe that. Sadly, we will not be having early access for this set, so I will be dropping a lot of decks here in order to get my ideas officially published somewhere. For today, I made a new Mono Black Midrange Deck (like I do for each set) and I think this one is pretty sweet. We are going to be able to do our gain and drain combo for a long time in Standard, and it's about time I get started trying to find the best deck. You know what we are going for here. There are so many tools to resolve our combo, and we can even make a ton of vampires that have lifelink to get extra triggers off of tenacity. We are creating a good bit of ways to gain life in the deck without even having to splash for another color. We also have a sneaky way to add a bunch of mana with the vampire subtheme that we have in the deck. Even if some of our initial game plans don't pan out the way we want them to, we were fortunately able to include a ton of good midrange cards that grind well, and amass tons of value.  Relevant New Cards

Dusmourn gave us some new bombs to reanimate in one of our favorite archetypes. There are good options that are both legendary and non-legendary. One thing that people don't always think about is: How can we creatures into the graveyard? How can we get them out of our hand when we accidentally draw them? There are a few cards that came out that can solve both problems for us. We also get to use a familiar friend from Bloomburrow as another discard outlet, and, in doing so, we are able to cast spells for free! You can probably guess who the new reanimation target is, as we are using Rakdos Joins Up to bring back our favorite legendary creatures. If that wasn't enough action, we also got another easter egg from the set in the form of a one mana creature that allows us to reanimate anything for four mana. This deck is sure to have some very high power level turns and will be incredibly explosive if left unchecked. Let's get into the cards! As you can see, the deck is actually capable of playing a bit of a midrange game and has other combos available outside of simple reanimation. There will be times where we have two combat steps and cast two cards for free, or maybe we simply attack with an Atraxa twice for 14 damage. Some of the new cards from Duskmourn allow this to be more than a reanimator deck, and demand respect from the opponent as such. Relevant New Cards

Magic Con Vegas is over, and we are all awaiting the exciting things to come for the MTG world in the rest of the year. We have exciting news, new cards coming out, and some fundamental changes to how formats will look going forward. Setting all that aside, we had some of the most exciting magic that has been played in a long time. Javier Dominguez was able to take down the competition and win his second world championship. There were a lot of interesting decks, and there were a few cards that seriously stuck out as all-stars. What was most interesting to see was that a lot of the different archetypes within color combinations stood out. There were multiple different Dimir decks, and there were also multiple different Golgari decks. What I will examine today is the deck that won it all. I usually pick my favorite deck from the top 8, and this ended up being my favorite because I believe that it brings the most spice. The innovation that it has ended up actually bringing an extra win condition that helped Javier get to the finals, and we will go over that shortly. There were a few different lists that were labeled as Dimir Demons, and I believe that all of them were good. There were other lists that may have been arguably more consistent, but Javier's strong play and a little bit of luck set him apart from everyone else. There is a mill combo built into the deck that I think is not only some serious spice, but also allows him to be able to play the midrange game and buy time in order to find answers, all while drawing extra cards and making strong demons that demand answers. The win conditions are pretty straightforward in the deck. We are either flying over the top of our opponents with demons that demand to be answered, or we are using the demons to mill out our opponent. In the process, we are also drawing a ton of cards with the annex and cards like Faerie Mastermind. Relevant Cards in the Deck

We went into the weekend still feeling a bit ambivalent regarding what Foundations would bring to the standard format, and I think now it is safe to say that even if you might not be excited about what you see, you at least are leaning one way regarding good or bad for the new cards coming in the set. From the excitement I conveyed in the title, it is pretty easy to conclude that I am officially excited for this new set. We are going to get back an infinite combo that will be Standard Legal that reminds me of my initial learning days in MTG, and the mechanic that made me fall in love with the game. We are going to be getting a life drain combo, and it is more efficient, and more valuable than before. We used to have to rely on two five mana enchantments to do this, but now we can curve into it, and the abilities for both pieces of the combo are also on creatures, thus giving us additional value for our mana spent to assemble the puzzle. The combo has not been legal in standard for some time, and one of the cards was historically pretty expensive. It was something that people were pretty excited to cast in other formats, and always creates a fun time. OK, let me stop gushing over it - The combo that we used to do about ten years ago was Exquisite Blood, and Sanguine Bond. It creates an infinite loop where if an opponent either loses life, or if we gain life, we win the game. There obviously are tons of ways to do this, and it even can be done in combat. Even playing a land can set this off. It used to be somewhat of a clunky combo, and now it is much more efficient, and is assembled on curve. Let's take a look at the combo itself, and some other cards from Foundations that I think can help support it, and overall that I'm excited for whether they fit into the deck or not. New Cards that Assemble the Infinite Combo We have played with this card at least a little bit, and we know that it is one of the new fun enchantment creatures from Duskmourn. It gives us the effect that cards like Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose, and Sanguine Bond used to give us. Although it does cost one more mana than Vito, it is much more difficult to remove, and I believe the stickiness of the card makes it that much more playable. There are ways to win with just this card alone, as there are still a decent number of life gain options in Standard, and other formats. Now we are going to do the infinite loop for it, and it will be legal in Standard until at least 2027!

We still have a lot of ambiguity on what all next month's Foundation Set release will entail. Will we have a bunch of staple cards? Will we have the staple cards and some new prints that breathe life into the format? It kind of remains to be seen, and as we approach the spoiler portion of the release, we are simply left to speculate. Some things we are starting to see, however, are the multiple different product offerings from Wizards for this release. The overall intention of the set is to allow for new players to buy as little as one product, and be able to start playing Magic. We have seen starter and challenger decks before, but Foundations appears to be not only doubling down on that option, but taking it a step further. We will look at the different products that will be coming out, for whom they are designed, and I will give my own opinion if they are worth buying, or maybe what type of Magic player might enjoy said product. I have to start by saying that I appreciate the way this is being done. They are making it incredibly easy for a new player to get into the game. Other TCGs are doing this as well, as they are all trying to get new players these days. I like that there is a clear and simplified way for a new player to learn, and that they are able to start with some basic principles before diving into the complex game that we know. New Products Hitting the Shelves The first Foundations product that is worth noting is something that will truly be for beginners. It is the Beginner Box. It appears to be going for around $30-$35 USD and is designed for someone who has never played MTG before. It is intended that you can pick up that box, learn from the beginner guide, rulebook, and the two 20 -card starter decks, and play with a friend right out of the box. It comes with playmats, life counters, and everything else needed to play Magic. Once you feel that you have an idea of how to play, they also have some Jumpstart decks - Eight of them to be exact. They are similar to the theme packs that you could purchase previously, and if you put two of them together, it could make a deck. Since they are preconstructed, I believe that the cards likely won't differ, but it should still give some exciting gameplay. While clearly intended for beginners, it could also be nice for the more seasoned player who is trying to teach someone else how to play, but may not have incredibly simplified decks like some of these are. The mechanics these days can be overwhelming, so starting with a more vanilla deck can be helpful when learning. I'm already thinking of getting this for friends of mine who want to learn how to play. 

We are right in the middle of a series of Regional Championships globally, and there is a deck is standing out as a fun new combo deck, and it's even putting up results. About a month ago, I wrote about the combo that works with Unstoppable Slasher and Bloodletter of Aclazotz, and it appears that Pioneer players decided to optimize the list and sought to assemble some turn four victories. The deck is also incredibly resilient, and they found a way to get good value from drawing a ton of cards. We are starting to see consistent results with the deck in major events. When I was in DC last weekend for the RC, there were three players who played mono-black combo that qualified for the Pro Tour, although unfortunately none of those lists made the top eight of the event. This week, we are awaiting final results of Japan's RC, and we know that at least two of the decks have made the top eight, and that five of them actually made the top sixteen. We will briefly go over the version of this deck that performed the best in Japan, and then we will also take a look at how it affects Standard, as the deck features a vast majority of cards in the list that are Standard legal/playable. I'll get you a list for both formats, because there will likely be some Standard Events coming up soon! This list differs a bit from some of the other decks that play demons. Most of the other lists also play Archfiend of the Dross, because that is a big huge demon that is pretty hard to deal with. This list focuses more on prioritizing card advantage with cards like Invoke Despair and Graveyard Trespasser in the main deck. One could make an argument that we would actually move those cards to the sideboard, and then play the four Archfiends, but at this point, we aren't going to argue with the success of the list, as it speaks for itself. Key Combo Pieces

As we ramp up for The MTG World Championships, we also have a few major events before. Right now, the biggest events are the Regional Championships, where the format is Pioneer. This past weekend, and this upcoming weekend, we have competitions from Brazil and Washington D.C. Today we will go over the results from the past weekend, and my favorite deck from the event. We have been waiting for events such as this one to see what decks emerge as the best so that we can work closer towards having a "solved" meta both after bans and a new set that came out. The meta from this event was certainly interesting compared to events before bans. I think one of the most noteworthy things was the fact that we didn't see any Phoenix in the top 8, or even the top 16. I will review a few of the top 8 decks for you, and we will have a brief analysis of the finals matchup. Then I'll go over my favorite deck from the top 8. Top 8 Results Let's take a good look at the overall breakdown from the top 8 in regards to meta share for each deck. Rakdos Prowess had three decks in the top 16, and it was the most well-represented archetype in the elimination rounds. It also had two decks in the top 4, but they were unable to beat Enigmatic Fires and Azorius Control, who ultimately ended up playing in the finals. Jund Sacrifice also made it into the top 8. That was a result that was expected to a degree. Another deck that is emerging is Rakdos Transmogrify, and that also found its way into the top 8. The deck that I was most happy to see in this top 8 was Rakdos Midrange. It basically is a Mono Black deck that runs Fable and Bloodtithe Harvester.