Highest Impact Cards in Theros

 As is traditional around these parts, in the week before the prerelease for any given set, I'm going to be going through each color and listing a couple of notable cards that I think are going to make significant waves in Standard (and older formats, if relevant).

Theros, from where I'm standing, is currently poised to be one of the most powerful sets in recent memory. Typically, the fall rotation is dominated primarily by what cards are no longer around. And we're certainly losing quite a few notable cards – Thragtusk, Restoration Angel, Blood Artist, the Checklands, among others. With that said, I think that enough of the cards in Theros are individually powerful enough to start carving the format into a different shape on their own.

WHITE

Starting with the bastions of purity, I've got to admit that I am not especially impressed with the spread. While laying a plains is one of my fondest joys in life, I'm not seeing a ton here for constructed. Nevertheless, there are quite a few gems that are notable.

Chained to the Rocks

Any card that costs one white mana and exiles a creature is worth looking at. While this does have some very significant downsides, being sorcery speed and requiring you to be playing some manner of Mountain (plus not having said mountain destroyed at a later date), I feel that this card is nevertheless one of the most efficient removal spells ever printed. There's a chance that with the weak land destruction in Modern, that this could see play there. If not, it will find a home in Standard for as long as Red and White are playable in the same shell.

Elspeth, Sun's Champion

There have been a lot of words written on this card in both directions. The detractors claim that a six mana

planeswalker is most likely not playable. While I disagree for purposes of Standard, I have to admit that for older formats, she's clearly useless. In Standard, however, she's clearly powerful. She can create her own personal army, and defend herself better than any walker ever printed before. Her minus is situational, but occasionally extremely useful. Her ultimate, while perhaps not as 'instant win' as some, is still extremely powerful. I feel like she is going to be played in many control decks who want a more defensive finisher than Aetherling (who does little to stabilize, and 'costs' 7 mana). Also look out for the soft-combo with Purphoros!

Fabled Hero

Fabled hero is the next in the obligatory line of '1WW Double Striking 2/2 with relevant set ability' that seems to be popular in large sets nowadays. While this guy feels less aggressive than Silverblade Paladin, he's still capable of swinging for more than enough damage to get the job done. I'm not sure if this guy sees play, but I wouldn't be surprised if he did.

Soldier of the Pantheon

At one mana, a 2/1 with multiple upside abilities is usually worth looking at. When those upsides directly involve being a safety valve for the entire previous block, I start to stand up and take notice. If someone makes a fast Wx (probably Boros or Selesnya), then this guy will absolutely be in it.

Spear of Heliod

Speaking of cards that are strong in aggressive white decks, this thing is everything Glorious Anthem always wished it was (except for Legendary). Adding in conditional removal to an already playable card makes a potent threat. The downside here is that you can't stack them up like you can with traditional anthems, which makes this a little bit harder to use. Still, I think the upside probably outweighs the downside. How often do you really need to cast multiple of the same Anthem in your turn 3-4 Boros deck?

Honorable Mention: Heliod, God of the Sun

I am not a fan of Heliod. I think that paying four mana for a 2/1, even if repeatable. I think that Vigilance is not as strong as putting lifelink here, and I think that there are better things to be doing in white for this kind of mana investment. He could see some fringe play, but I'm not going to be putting my money on him.

BLUE

Blue is in an interesting place with this set. While their rares aren't quite as powerful as I might like, they have a LOT of powerful commons and uncommons. I'm going to go through the top five, in my eyes, but there's gonna be a substantial Honorable Mentions list for this color, and they likely won't break the bank.

Swan Song

Clearly the standout of the set, Swan Song gets significant attention because, in older formats, the 'downside' on this card is pretty negligible compared to the power level of what this card is doing. In Legacy, this hits an absurd amount of cards, in archetypes that have been fairly strong as of late. This is a great card against Sneak Attack, Snow and Tell, Dream Halls, any deck casting brainstorm, and is even passable against decks that it's not an absolute house against. Give this card 6 months, as Legacy is slow to adapt, and you'll start seeing it with some regularity.

Thassa, God of the Sea

This is another one that I like in older formats. A friend of mine who plays Merfolk in Legacy is excited about this card, and the problems that it solves for the Fish deck in general. I'd expect it to see play. It's also in an interesting place as far as Standard goes. The kind of card advantage that this affords you over the course of a game is not to be underestimated, and getting your beaters through repeatedly is another powerful effect that we don't normally see in this context. At only three mana, Thassa could develop into a significant role player.

Dissolve

A strict upgrade from Cancel, this should slot nicely into all the places that Dissipate had been for the last year. Scry 1 is a nice tack-on that tends to play into exactly what Blue wants to be doing – gathering information and stopping their opponents.

Plus, have you seen the art and quote on this card? It's gorgeous. Props to Wesley Burt for some great art, and to the creative team for making me smile.

Voyage's End

Bounce spells have always been on the fringe of playable. Stapling Scry to one, in a set that seems to care about Auras other effects that bounce is traditionally good against, makes me thinks that this could see play.

Fate Fortold

While this card does look pretty odd and janky, I'm mentally comparing it to Think Twice that happens to be cheaper and pushes your opponent away from attacking for feat of getting you an extra card. Obviously at Sorcery speed, it has it's weaknesses, but this is one that I'm keeping my eye on, at least for testing purposes. Let it be known that I think this is, by far, my weakest pick, and I'm speculating a little bit on it.

Honorable Mentions to: Annul, Bident of Thassa, Omenspeaker, and Stymied Hopes

These cards I all expect to see Standard play, with the exception of the Bident, which will see EDH play.

BLACK

Black's power seems to be fairly concentrated. There's a number of cards I could care less about, and I didn't need to make any cuts for my list of five. However, those five cards are all A-listers that deserve to be on the list.

Erebos, God of the Dead

Erebos is a strangely designed card. It's two significant effects stapled to t o an indestructible sometimes-large-body. While the life gain clause needs the right kind of meta to shine (like, say, the metagame we've seen over the last year), drawing cards is always potent. With cards like Obzedat and Blood Baron gaining significant amounts of life, Erebos could be a major engine.

Hero's Downfall

While Murder hasn't seen a whole lot of play, Murder doesn't kill planeswalkers. Dreadbore has been a staple of the format for a year, and I'd happily pay one more mana for instant speed on an effect like this – in the right kind of deck.

Read the Bones

This card is actually bonkers. Barring Sphinx's Revelation, this is likely the most powerful draw spell in

Standard. Scry 2, followed by a double draw is easily worth 3 mana – and it's easy color commitments make it particularly exciting to me. Be careful about slamming 4 of these into your deck in an aggro heavy meta, but if predictions come true and the format slows down, this is probably where you'll want to be.

Thoughtseize

Enough words have been written about Thoughtseize to fill a book. It's been a modern and legacy staple for years. It's going to see significant play in Standard in just about every Black deck that cares in any way about interacting with their opponent. Omitting it from this list was nearly unthinkable.

I can't wait for my opponents to not understand when it should and should not be used. (I strongly suggest any Star City Premium subscribers to read Mr. Duke's excellent treatment on the card, which can be found HERE.

Whip of Erebos

This divine weapon has an extremely useful static ability, and a fairly powerful, if difficult to evaluate secondary ability. I think this card is at it's best in slogging creature match ups, where reanimating a Lifebane Zombie,taking another one of their creatures, and then beating for a six point life swing is the best game you can expect. I can see this being a 1 or 2 of in a large number of creature based black decks.

RED

Red has a few really awesome cards in this set that have be wavering in my loyalty to BW. More and more, I look over at Red longingly, wondering when I'll get awesome 3 mana board wipes and not need to worry about the early game because it solidly belongs to me.

Anger of the Gods

This card compares very favorably to Slagstorm, which a number of you will probably remember as a card

that killed everything not named Titan. The exile clause is especially useful at the moment, since it happens to remove Voice of Resurgance profitably. It doesn't answer Obzedat or Blood Baron, but the majority of Green, White, and Black should be sent packing. Expect this to see heavy play mainboard, and heavier side.

Hammer of Purphoros

One of the critical problems that Red decks have traditionally had was that they are entirely at the mercy of their draws. One of the reasons that Burn exists as a deck in Legacy (albeit an underplayed one) is because they can directly convert their lands into additional damage with Fireblast. While this card is far from Fireblast, it has the same feel – converting lands to board position. It should help red decks to stop flooding out in the late game while delivering the last few points of damage. Synergizes very well with the God himself.

Magma Jet/Spark Jolt

I fully expect these to be the primary cards in the format that keep the aggro decks in check. They're extremely efficient burn spells, and the scry that comes attached can't really be underestimated. Magma Jet was an all star last time, and I don't expect it to be weaker this time around. Which of these sees more play will be a meta call, depending on what the toughness of creatures looks like. I'm personally inclined towards Magma Jet though.

Purphoros, God of the Forge

If there is going to be a combo enabler in Standard, this is going to be the card that does it. Pinging on ETB is one of those things that gives me terrible flashbacks to Valakut, and having that stapled to an undercosted body that also provides team-wide firebreathing makes me think there might be something here. If only there were more effects that put multiple bodies into play...

Stormbreath Dragon

The heir to the throne formerly occupied by Thundermaw Hellkite, Stormbreath Dragon has it all. He's got haste. He's got evasion. He's got a decent body and an ability that isn't entirely useless. Moreover, they stapled protection-from-most-Modern-removal to him, and it looks like we've got a great card on our hands. I would personally expect this one to start high at the prerelease, and not go any lower for a good long while.

Honorable Mention: Lightning Strike

A functional reprint of Searing Spear is unexciting, but perfectly serviceable. Depending on the relative toughness of creatures seeing play, this could be a heavily played card.

GREEN

While Green is arguably the strongest color coming out of the previous block, with it's strong aggressive plan and difficult to answer threats, I honestly do not see very much to help Green in Theros. I feel like both Nylea, Goddess of the Hunt, and her weapon, Bow of Nylea, are not as strong as the other color's options. This, plus a distinct lack of strong support cards, leaves me with only three cards I feel are worth talking about.

Boon Satyr

Boon Satyr would be an entirely average creature without flash. However, the addition of Flash to almost any creature is one of the most significant keywords that can be given. It turns a fairly one-dimensional creature into a combat trick (both offensive and defensive, thanks to Bestow!) It gives the creature pseudo-haste, even stronger with mismatched Power/Toughness. Furthermore, it's aggressive cost – both to cast and to bestow – makes it a prime candidate for Standard play.

(EDIT: Name fix thanks to /u/NorinTheWary)

Polukranos, World Eater

Polukranos is a strong creature. Starting at a 4 mana 5/5, his stats are already slightly above the curve. With the addition of his Monstrous abilty (perhaps enabled by a slew of mana dorks or Xenagos), there is the very real potential for him to single handedly take over the game and then end it swiftly. While I am not a personal fan of the creature, or the design, I am forced to admit that a monstrous Polukranos is no doubt going to kill me at some point.

Sylvan Caryatid

Everyone likes Utopia Tree. More people are going to like a 0/3 Utopia Tree with Hexproof. With the loss

of Farseek, this card is primed to fit into a large number of decks and fill all your need to cast 4 mana spells on Turn 3, this time without the blowout of having it removed by a timely Searing Spear.

MULTICOLORED

For a set that's nominally monocolored, Theros has a number of very powerful, unique multicolored cards. Some of them are sure to slot into Legacy Decks, while others will no doubt fail to make a splash in any format. Nevertheless, these certainly deserve a special look on the coattails of Return to Ravnica.

Fleecemane Lion

We've come a long way since Watchwolf, and this card has a whole lot of upside tacked on to it. With a very affordable Monstrous cost, and a pretty solid ability tacked to it, Fleecemane Lion seems like an ideal way to put early pressure on and keep it there. While Call of the Conclave isn't exactly thrilling everyone with it's P/T ratio, it also can't grow into a literal monster. It is worth noting that this directly competes with everyone's favorite Voice of Resurgence, but I think there's room for both to exist in the format.

Prophet of Kruphix

Seedborn Muse has always been an exceptionally strong card. While places to abuse it might be limited in Standard, but Seedborn Muse and Yeva have seen some EDH play. I see no reason that this won't see play in any deck that can support the colors.

Spellheart Chimera

This guy is interesting. With flying, trample, a decent back end, and great synergy with the kind of things that Blue and Red love doing, there's a decent chance that this guy breaks into either standard or modern. At a 3 drop, he's a little expensive for Legacy, but in the right circumstance, I could see it happening. Watch this guy.

Steam Augury

Even an awful, gives-opponent-better-choices, multicolored Fact or Fiction is still actually a Fact or Fiction, and it's still great card advantage for 4 mana. It's playability is going to be tied directly to the primary control colors that are playable, and both Blue and Red are high on my list in that category.

(EDIT: Mistyped the mana cost here. Thanks /u/not-even-in-flames)

Xenagos, the Reveler

This walker has what it takes. He's got an ability to defend himself, he's got an ability that's great when you're ahead. His ultimate is fairly powerful for how fast you can get to it, and most importantly, he costs 4 mana. This guy reminds me of Garruk Relentless in a lot of ways, and while he's clearly destined for a slightly different deck than baby Garruk was, teaming up with Domri Rade is enough to make a powerful team in standard.

Official PSA: A Red/Green Planeswalker Deck is called “Super Smash Brothers”, just like how Bant/Naya tend to be called Super Friends. Grixis Walkers is called Legion of Doom. Spread the word.

Honorable Mentions: Ashen Rider, Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver, and Tymaret, the Murder King.

Ashen Rider is a strict upgrade to Angel of Despair almost anywhere it exists. (Exception: Kaalia EDH). Ashiok is notable as a planeswalker, but it doesn't defend itself and is really hard to extract any kind of real value out of. Could see play in the control mirror. Tymaret could see Legacy play in a Goblin-Bombardment style grindy list, or just as an awesome EDH general for people who love awesome names.

ARTIFACTS AND LANDS:

There's really only one notable here, beyond the Scry Lands, which are awesome. Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx is going to be an EDH staple, and not much else. It requires too much work to be actual acceleration, and colored mana is too much in demand to reasonably justify it in any other format.

Thanks for reading everyone, and I hope that your prereleases go well. How do you think I did? Did I miss your favorite card? Chime in in the comments below, or over on Reddit. I'd love to hear your feedback, and chat about cards. Tune in next week when we start brewing for the new format. I hope to build a BW Midrange deck for use at SCG Worcester, so we'll see!