Top Throne of Eldraine Cards for Standard
Spoiler season is over and Throne of Eldraine is dropping soon. Here are 10+ cards that caught my eye.
10. Faeburrow Elder
Abzan is positioned pretty well in Throne of Eldraine standard and Faeburrow Elder gives midrange decks some rather strong turns. I'm looking forward to turn 2 Dreadhorde Invasion into turn 3 Faeburrow Elder into turn 4 either Vraska, Golgari Queen + Knight of Autum or Garruk, Cursed Huntsman.
9. Deathless Knight
Haste is a very strong keyword and seeing it on non-red creatures always deserves a look. With a built in Raise Dead mechanic off a pretty easy trigger, I have little doubt Deathless Knight will see play. Cards like Vraska, Golgari Queen, Sorin, Vengeful Bloodlord, and even Moldervine Reclaimation make it very easy to get a bunch of value off this card.
Keep an eye out on Castle Garenbrig as it allows green decks to smooth out their mana to cast green-heavy creature cards like this rather easily.
8. Oko, Thief of Crowns
I'm not high on this card at all but I'm hedging my bets and I'm showing some respect to a 3 mana planeswalker with a lot of raw power. Oko's ceiling is so high, with plays like turn 1 Gilded Goose into turn 2 Oko (+2 for another food) into trading a food token for your opponent's turn 2 creature; I don't expect this to happen all the time but it's obviously pretty good when it happens.
7. Thrill of Possibility
It's a strict upgrade over Tormenting Voice and feels kind of like Faithless Looting (without flashback, I know). This card is going to let Arclight Phoenix tread water in standard a little bit longer.
It might not be the right card to mention in this spot since it's tied directly to cards like Improbable Alliance, Ironcrag Pyromancer, Faerie Vandal, The Royal Scions, and even Merchant of the Vale // Haggle.
6. The Great Henge
Nine mana is a lot for any card but The Great Henge gets cheaper rather quickly thanks to cards like Rotting Regisaur that allows this card to be reliably cast on turn 4 (and maybe even turn 3 in the right deck).
I won't be surprised if this card is abused in a deck with Karn, the Great Creator because a turn 4 9/9 seems really fair... Oh, and remember Deathless Knight that was mentioned earlier? How does a reoccuring 5/3 Haste that draws a card sound? Pretty good, right?
5. Torbran, Thane of Red Fell
Turn 1: Scorch Spiter Turn 2: Cavalcade of Calamity (3 damage) Turn 3: Chandra's Spitfire (3 damage) Turn 4: Torbran, Thane of Red Fell (21 damage)
If I did the math correctly, this line is 3 damage on turns 2 and 3, with 21 (!!) damage on turn 4 for a total of 27 damage. It's a fairly easy/reasonable turn four kill that many decks aren't going to be able to deal with easily.
Not only does Torbran create absurd lines for red decks to win, he allows decks to put up a fight against midrange decks. Your 1/1 creatures now trade with X/3s and that fells really bad for your opponent. This card makes Legion Warboss significantly stronger and turns Scampering Scorcher into a playable card; nine damage for four mana feels pretty good.
4. Once Upon a Time
Once Upon a Time feels like it should be the best card in the set. It's a free spell that fixes your mana or finds an early threat, mana dork, or combo peice. The flexibility of this card is absurd and the only reason it sits in the fourth spot is that it's not great in multiples and it's largely dependent on the deck.
I could make a reasonable case that virtually any mono colored creature deck should splash four shocklands and four Once Upon a Time because it's that good, but I'm not ready to make that claim quite yet.
3. Bonecrusher Giant // Stomp
Now we're getting into cards that change the way Magic is played. This card feels a lot like Rampaging Ferocidon, a card that was banned in standard a year ago. Stomp allows red decks to deal with the problematic Cerulean Drake; while Bonecrusher Giant is solid on-curve threat that shocks opponents when they try to deal with it.
2. Murderous Rider // Swift End
Another adventure card with strong effects. Hero's Demise on a creature with lifelink that doesn't exactly die. The dying effect on Murderous Rider probably makes it worse, as you can't bring it back with reanimation effects to abuse Swift End. A lifelink creature that's conveniently out of Shock range will be a problem for red decks for as long as it's around.
1. Questing Beast
No surprise here, this creature is pushed so hard in Throne of Eldraine. There are way too many keywords words on this creature.
Honorable Mentions
Wildborn Preserver
This card fits into Simic Flash perfectly and makes every subsequent creature stronger in the deck. It allows any deck to smooth out their curve and effectively use all of their mana each time a creature is cast; it turns out being mana efficient is a pretty good stategy.
Claim the First Born
Claim the First Born should be a lock for modern decks but might be a bit of a reach for standard. Stealing an opponent's Rotting Regisaur gives red decks incredible reach for one mana.
Fabled Passage
This is a tough card to value right now. I would have loved to fetch the cycle of non-basic basic land cards (Mystic Sanctuary and Witch's Cottage) with Fabled Passage but we're not able to do that. I expect this card to allow a minor three color splash, giving Simic decks access to Unmoored Ego and Enter the God-Eternals and maybe a 2 or 3 of in control decks.
Fires of Invention
An enchantment that gives you a free spell every turn seems incredibly powerful. I expect Fires of Invention to power a ton of superfriend decks for the next year or two. Being able to cast Fires on turn 4 along with any of the plethora of strong four mana planeswalkers into two five drops the following turn should win a bunch of games.
I'm expecting Fires of Invention with Cavalier of Flames to be extremely popular this fall and this sort of strategy plays well with cards like Fae of Wishes and Escape to the Wilds in Eldraine.
Hushbringer
Hushbringer is one of the only checks against elementals in the format and it fits reasonably well into UW flyers and whatever this new format's white weenie deck will look like.
What's Missing?
I'm disappointed I didn't bring up Emry, Robber of the Rich, Charming Prince, or Grumgully but I promise they'll be mentioned in another article. They just didn't make the cut for standard.
Did I leave out one of your favorite cards?