Welcome to another edition of the Daily Dose of Battle for Zendikar where today we will talking about some of our favorite cards of the past 2 years that are rotating out of Standard and what we could use going forward to replace those cards. Here are some cards that have been played in Top 8 decks in Standard over the past couple of months.
Lightning Strike/Searing Blood – Battle for Zendikar doesn’t provide us with a lot of burn spells, but you can still use Draconic Road as a replacement if you are playing some good Dragons in your Red deck like Thunderbreak Regent.
Garruk, Apex Predator – Ob Nixilis Reignited will be able to kill some creatures and be able to provide you some needed card advantage as well. Although not as powerful as Garruk, Ob Nixilis will still be a nice replacement option.
Scry Lands – Scry lands are gone and now look to Tango Lands to fix all of our mana needs. Being able to use fetchlands to get Tango lands will make them very useful for getting the exact mana you need for 3 and 4-color decks.
Hero’s Downfall – This has been a staple removal card for quite a while and Ruinous Path looks to take over in its place. Although it doesn’t have instant, it can be better late game by providing you a creature threat as well.
Thoughtseize – This has been a card that many players will be rejoicing that is being rotated out of Standard, but don’t get too excited. Duress and Transgress the Mind will fill its place nicely and be able to help you discard strong cards from your opponent’s hand.
Stoke the Flames – Like Ruinous Path, Exquisite Firecraft is a Sorcery, but it helps in getting 4 damage through just like Stoke the Flames.
Elspeth, Sun’s Champion – Elspeth was a great way to clutter up the board and eventually overpower with all of the creatures she created. Now you have a new option to do that with Gideon, Ally of Zendikar. It allows you to add a ton of Ally creatures onto the battlefield then later you can attack away with Gideon himself.
Banishing Light – Banishing Light has been great at removing any threat on the board your opponent might have. Stasis Snare now comes into Standard with the ability to play as an instant. True it can only remove creatures from play, but there are a lot of large creatures coming in Battle for Zendikar.
Dissolve – A great 3 mana counter all with ability to exile what it counters. Scatter to the Winds will also allow you to counter anythig. In the late game it will also provide you with a creature to attack back with.
Anger of the Gods – This has been used to clear out swarms of tokens and smaller creatures once they are starting to overwhelm you. Don’t worry we’ve replaced that with the newer Radiant Flames. Costing only 1 red mana instead of 2 will also allow you to play it in more decks as well.
Drown in Sorrow – A nice black card that allows to also clear those pesky tokens. Don’t worry, you still have Languish to play with and the new Rising Miasma. Drawing this late game will provide you with a creature after the board wipe as well.
Chord of Calling – Like to search for creatures from your library to play, no problem we have you covered. We still have alternate options like See the Unwritten and the new Bring to Light.
Two great cards that will put creatures right onto the battlefield for you, ready to battle.
Chances are if you have been playing Standard in the past 3 months, you have played with a lot of these rotating cards. As you can see though, there’s not much to worry about as there are plenty of cards to fill their place. When in doubt, try new combinations and maybe you will create the deck to beat!
Thanks again for reading another edition of the Daily Dose of Battle for Zendikar. We look forward to seeing you again tomorrow with some more looks at what is to come in the months to come.
