platypeople: One spot to keep an eye out for potential staples in Revolution is cards that call back to proven powerhouses in canon standard. Dormant Monstrosity seems to be doing a halfway decent Reckoner Bankbuster impression and my curiosity is piqued. Given that you'll rarely get three full cards worth of value from the counter removal I think a deck playing this card likely wants to be more interested in the creature early. That being said, the ability to cash in for multiple cards immediately in the lategame seems super relevant in the exact kinds of matchups where Bankbuster tended to shine. The potential synergies with a big ball of stats with a large number of counters on it hitting the board ahead of schedule are more marks in this card's favor as well. I'll be looking to cast a lot of these early on in the new format to see if it lives up to the comparison!

HSquid: The card im most interested about for CNY is Rigged Trial, a 6 mana exile target creature instant at common. However, where it gets interesting is that its discounted for each color among permanents you control! With a 2c creature, you get a 4 mana instant speed exile, which is the usual rate, but with cliques, which count for three colors themselves, you get a really cheap unconditional removal spell!

In addition, we currently have the "instant and sorceries that cost 4 or more" subtheme from Duelist of Vereaux and obviously JJMack, Trendsetter from Hyperpop, which benefit from having big spells that you can cast for cheap, so im really excited to get this new toy added to the deck.

Cool Beens: Survivors of the New World, though not incredibly flashy (three 1/1s for 4 mana, lame!), is a such a versatile and powerful engine that im excited to try it in all number of types of decks. The most obvious place for it is just midrange-y or aggresive token strategies, who like the boardstate boost on its own merit and then get additional incidental value from the trigger in case of mass removal. However, I expect the card will also find use in more controlling strategies, being used to make blockers your opponent really doesn't want to step on for fear of drawing you into your bigger game-ending engines. Finally, I could see the card being used in a more sacrifice-oriented strategy, where their death trigger is used proactively to dig through your deck for more synergy pieces and more fodder. Though it might not see play in all these types of decks immediately, I expect Survivors of the New World to see continuous experimentation and play for as long as its in the format, and I'm excited to be there for it.

Dodger: Estrathian Gentrifiers is a really fun take on Knight of the Reliquary. Differently-named lands is a much-beloved mechanic in the custom Magic space with a history of some very iconic cards, and I think this one is poised to join their ranks. While this requires a bit more deckbuilding and isn't enabled by things like fetchlands (plus the toughness is locked at 3), we get a lot of upside in flexibility, plus the card comes with a higher floor. The Gentrifiers can act as a toolbox card for any number of utility lands, can give you back a mana the turn it comes into play, and most importantly, can search out lands while applying pressure at the same time. With the high number of utility lands in Revolution right now, don't sleep on this one.

AllWhoWander: One of the cards I'm most excited to play with this rotation is Extraction Mission! Newly reworked and in one of my favorite suites of colors, Extraction Mission presents an interesting answer to the question "how do we make reanimator less all-in/combo focused?" By restricting its targets to smaller creatures, it changes the card's role from a game-winning combo piece to a value-oriented spell—and there's nothing I like more than wringing more value out of my creatures! This sort of small reanimator deck has been a revolution favorite before—see Bloodstained Tupilaq and friends. Its flexibility in colors means that while it'll most often see play in grixis decks, it has plenty of cachet outside that, and I'm excited to see how players will take advantage of extraction mission! There's so many possibilities—recurring troublesome creatures like Alehana or Unburnt Maiden, abusing ETB/LTB effects like the Roughrider cycle, cheating alternate costs like Skophos Conqueror, using the temporary creature as a resource for cards like Deadly Dispute, cards that care about you sacrificing permanents like the newly minted Meeting of the Elites, abusing effects that care about cards leaving your graveyard like Arduous Miners, copying it for cheap using Fluid Formation—the list goes on and on!

Epid: Social Engineering is a brilliantly engineered card that gives your tempo and valuable enters effects that extra oomph by doubling up on your efficient creatures. The extra flexibility of giving you a 1/1 token tied to an Unsummon in a pinch provides reach to interact with your opponents in a meaningful way that would otherwise not be available to copy similar copy effects; and put simply, that is really exciting! UW tempo has previously had success in the format and I’m looking forward to seeing if this card can be the push to see its return this rotation. If you need somewhere to start in your tempo deck brewing I would look no further than rotating in cards Ballot Registrar and Sleeper Strix, as well as from among existing cards like Nomad’s Companion, Bravewing Hero and Charming Siren.

Revolution, August 2024

The long-standing tradition of Revolution Brawl tournaments continued this season for the first time in a year! 16 players brought 14 unique Brawlers, including many from Theros: Age of Trax's and Cybaros's deep rosters of legendary creatures & planeswalkers who were available in this format for the first time. As the decklist submission deadline drew near the highlights among the players seemed to be Red aggro led by Ardor, Forefront of Freedom, and grindy White-Black-Colorless artifact midrange led by Azantium, Perfect Creation. While each of these commanders sported two pilots apiece in swiss rounds none of them would bubble up to the top cut bracket this time around.

The playoff rounds would see two vastly different approaches to Red-White face off, an aggro list helmed by Elektes, First King of Akros and a control list headed by Nikon, Skophos Protector. The control list prevailed this time around, though Nikon would fall in the semifinals alongside a strong showing from a Black-Green-Blue Xirix, Chronic Mercenary deck built for their last month in the format before rotating. The finals turned out as a rematch from the 3-0 undefeated bout in swiss rounds between Splitmoon piloting Blue-Black Phenax, Brazen Thief and platypeople piloting full Colorless Xiv, Replisparked. Phenax is a mill-focused deck that's exceptional at playing several different speeds of games between an aggressively-statted 2 mana commander and a variety of available paths to victory. Phenax himself can even circumvent commander tax to some degree via its Escape-like ability.  Xiv is much more geared towards longer games, though it's near unmatched in lategame situations with a fully self-contained win condition in the command zone and access to a plethora of interaction-resistant Ruins for persistent pressure.