Standard is still reeling from fall rotation and the introduction of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt.
As players are exploring the new format, several cards proved themselves as standouts in the first week of the new Standard format.
Aggro and midrange decks are typically strong early in a format. Control is inherently reactive and takes some time to discover what cards are threats and how to best answer them. With that said, Dimir Control is already a strong ladder deck alongside the various ramp and aggro strategies.
Here are the five best cards from week one of Midnight Hunt Standard.
Memory Deluge
Midnight Hunt gave control and tempo decks a handful of tools to get and stay ahead. With Into the Story rotating, Memory Deluge is one of the best card draw and selection spells in the format. This four-mana spell digs four cards deep and lets you put two into your hand.
What makes this spell stand out is its Flashback ability. For seven mana, you essentially get to look seven cards deep and select two. At instant speed, Memory Deluge works well with a counterspell or flash-based game plan.
Wrenn and Seven
Goldspan Dragon demands an answer in Standard. Wrenn and Seven is one of the best answers to Goldspan Dragon and other problematic Flying Creatures in the format. The Planeswalker’s -3 ability Creates a Treefolk token that scales throughout the game.
The token comes in as a 5/5, but with a few turns in it can grow up to 10/10. This stops Flying threats from attacking in and buys you crucial time to play a finisher or find a way to give the Treefolk Trample. The other abilities are good. The +1 ensures you won’t miss your land drops and fills the graveyard. The 0 can dump lands on the battlefield for Landfall-centric strategies.
The Meathook Massacre
One problem that board wipes typically have is that they are dead-in-hand against certain matchups. The Meathook Massacre is incredible against aggro and midrange while remaining useful against Control.
A big part of why this Enchantment is strong is that it’s scalable. The Meathook Massacre can be played on turn three to quickly take out early aggro threats. It can also come down on turn seven to destroy a handful of midrange threats. The incidental life gain and loss stapled onto the card adds up over the course of the game, especially in a sacrifice deck.
Storm the Festival
A six-mana Sorcery is a tough sell for most decks. Historic players understand how dangerous Collected Company is and Storm the Festival has a similar effect. You can look at the top five cards of your library and get two permanents with a mana value of five or less.
This card won’t whiff as much as Collected Company does because it hits a wider range of permanents. This allows you to play more expensive threats and potentially slam two bombs onto the board on turn five or six.
The Flashback cost of ten is a lot but isn’t as hard to cast as it seems. Midnight Hunt Standard is filled with quality mana dorks and ramp spells. A second activation of Storm the Festival should be enough to close the game.
Reckless Stormseeker
Reckless Stormseeker is a terrifying turn-three play for Mono-Red Aggro and Gruul Werewolves. This 2/3 Creature can attack as a 3/3 the turn it enters the battlefield. After turn three, every Creature you play can gain haste and attack with either a +1/+0 or a +2/+0 if it is night.
