Throne of Eldraine (ELD) is finally out of the wilderness.
The newest Magic: the Gathering set is primed to shake up the Standard meta in a major way and several cards may even break it altogether. Here are the top meta cards you need to know about in Throne of Eldraine.
Realm-Cloaked Giant
Realm-Cloaked Giant enters the meta as the nearest unconditional board wipe. And with an on-board follow-up play built in, it should see plenty of play over the next few Standard seasons. As a bonus, since this counts as a creature while in the graveyard, it gets extra recursion from cards like Witch’s Cottage.
Brazen Borrower
This isn’t Vendilion Clique, but it’s damn close. The fact that it slots immediately into the Simic Flash deck means it should have a solid home to play around in, at least until Flash loses steam.
Murderous Rider
Hero’s Downfall on a stick is a great card and will see play in many Black decks across the meta as the go-to single-threat removal spell. The second ability text on the creature prevents graveyard recursion (unless you have Hushbringer).
Bonecrusher Giant
BCG is a flexible spell for Red players with two modes that both create lots of pressure on any opponent. This fits easily into both aggro and midrange decks, and it even trumps the unfortunately-positioned Root Snare.
Fires of Invention
Fires is a unique addition to the game and it’s already made quite a splash by giving its casters lots of free spells. The strongest interaction seems to be using Teferi to bounce Fires and resume normal spellcasting after getting two free spells.
Robber of the Rich
We’re not sure if Red decks needed a hasty Thief of Sanity that costs one less mana, but they basically got one and it’s great. It’ll certainly miss some of the time, but the times it doesn’t have the potential to end the game on the spot. With this play, Robber is almost guaranteed to get value.
Gilded Goose
The Goose is loose. Many players were down on this card after the initial spoiler, but its ability to block, ramp, and splash gives it flexibility that Llanowar Elves never had. It can be more inconsistent, but as a turn one play, it’s hard to beat.
The Great Henge
Another initially-underrated card, The Great Henge is turning heads with its powerful ramp and card advantage abilities. Once it hits the table, Green players can typically count on drawing three or more cards per turn. Factor in the life gain and +1/+1 counters and it’s easy to see this cruising into Mono-Green.
Dance at the Manse
This card has enabled an all-new kind of deck and the fact that it’s already hit the meta in just one week speaks to its potential. The goal is to load up on cheap artifacts like Golden Egg and removal-style enchantments like Doom Foretold, then get them into the graveyard and bring them back as 4/4 beaters. Esper Control lives.
Oko, Thief of Crowns
Wizards’ development of cheap planeswalkers continues in this set with Oko and The Royal Scions. Oko is breaking out, however, aided in no small part by Gilded Goose. As a turn two play, Oko can be brutal. Players are combining him with Dreadhorde Invasion for free 4/4s each turn and Nissa to turn lands into 6/6s.
Fabled Passage
This is just Evolving Wilds with a literal twist, but what a twist it is. With checklands rotating out, decks that use three or more colors are going to be hard to run. Fabled Passage will be the go-to land fixer and likely will get even stronger when the Ravnican shocklands take off next fall.
